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Police to Visit Residences of Covington Sex Offenders

UPDATE (THURSDAY MORNING): The Covington Police Department reports: "All registrants living in Covington have been verified as of tonight. We completed nearly 60 home visits and will be filing charges on at least 4 sex offenders who were found to be non-compliant. Thanks to the Kenton County Commonwealth's Attorney Office for working in conjunction with our Department and the Kentucky Department of Corrections Probation and Parole for supporting this operation. We could not have done this without their help. Big thanks to Civilian staff at the PD who volunteered their time to help organize this. You know who you are!"

ORIGINAL POST:

The Covington Police Department, in conjunction with the Kenton County Commonwealth's Attorney Office, will be making visits Wednesday night to the supplied addresses of each convicted sex offender residing in the city. Prompted by neighbor complaints to the department that certain individuals were not showing up in the state data base with the proper address, Covington Police decided to be proactive.

"The correct response is, notify the Kentucky State Police," said Lt. Jim Donaldson. KSP oversees the state sex offender registry. "We just don't want to tell our city that it's someone else's issue."

Officers and prosecutors were divided up into three teams Wednesday evening to visit addresses in different parts of the city. There are currently eighty-seven registered sex offenders living in Covington and all of them will be visited, though more than twenty have already been verified during some previous dry runs leading up to Wednesday.

"It's a catch-up day," Donaldson said. "We're starting with those who haven't registered in a long time to make sure their information is accurate."

Commonwealth's Attorney Rob Sanders explained to The River City News that this is an effort to make sure sex offenders are living where they are supposed to be and that they are not engaged in more criminal activity. "If the information is inaccurate, then it's useless," Sanders said. When approached Wednesday evening, the sex offenders will be treated politely and told that this is a routine check to confirm the validity of their addresses. "The ones that are compliant are happy to show us they're compliant, to let us know that they're not involved in any more criminal activity."

Donaldson does not expect any arrests to be made during the checks in which the offenders will have to prove that their address is correct. This effort is a response to community concerns about safety. "Our job is providing an environment where you feel safe," Donaldson said. "If people won't sit on their porch because they don't feel safe, then we have failed."